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Considering they were down star defenceman Evan Bouchard and two key forwards, a 3-2 shootout loss to beefed-up Kitchener before 8,616 Tuesday at Budweiser Gardens is hardly cause for a collective gnashing of teeth.

“We’ll take a point,” said London forward Alex Turko, the face of hard work. “It’s a good Kitchener team. We’re down a couple of guys. We have a room full of guys who want to compete hard. We had to play a bit different after the trades (of veteran talent) and we found a way.

“We feel like we’re in every game.”

The Knights held the Rangers -- who have title aspirations -- to 25 shots over 65 minutes of regulation and overtime.

They really missed the hard-shooting Bouchard -- who is with Liam Foudy in Guelph to prepare for the top prospects game, which is Thursday -- at the offensive end. London’s power play went 0-for-5, including a chance in overtime, and all five shootout attempts either missed or were turned aside by Rangers goaltender Luke Richardson.

Givani Smith, the old Guelph Storm foe, finally ended it amidst a chorus of boos from London fans who don’t appreciate his chippy style.

“If I was on the other side and they were booing a guy, I would love it,” said Smith, whose older brother Gemel played for the ill-fated 2014 Memorial Cup host Knights. “Scoring that goal, it quieted them down a little bit.”

Are the Rangers a tad concerned scrappy London, a potential first-round playoff opponent, has played them so tough this year and managed to get under a few of their veteran player’s skin?

“A win’s a win for us,” said Smith, who delivered Kitchener’s fourth straight triumph.”It’s two points to stay where we are (atop the Midwest Division). That’s all that matters.”

The Knights lost for their first time in four games. They also fell for just the second time in 18 games this season when leading after the first period.

They built an early two-goal lead, but couldn’t muster anything more.

“You always want to be thought of as dangerous,” London assistant coach Rick Steadman said. “We got younger but we’ve got a lot of talent too. We want (teams) to fear us and not think we’re any easy game.”

LOCAL GOAL: Alex Turko thought he might have had his first OHL goal in a scrum back in October against Owen Sound. After the game, it was taken away from him and awarded to Josh Nelson.

So the he waited three months to finally get it Tuesday, becoming the first Londoner since John Warren to score for the Knights.

“I know Johnny pretty well, we went to high school (at Oakridge),” the 19-year-old former St. Thomas Star said. “It’s nice to contribute a goal, especially in a big game like this. I’m trying to get more shots. I just want to work as hard as I can and things will turn out.”

Turko had just returned to the lineup after suffering an injury two weeks ago against Hamilton.

“He comes back in and scores,” Steadman said. “Nothing better than getting your first goal in front of the home crowd.”

BACK IN BLUE: Now that he’s helping coach the Rangers defence, Dennis Wideman isn’t exposed to the leather-lunged insults from the Memorial Auditorium faithful he heard as a rival player with London.

“They have that high glass up now,” the Knights standout from 2001-04 said, “so you can’t hear them.”

The 34-year-old Elmira native, who now resides in Waterloo, said he is enjoying dipping his toe in the coaching pool.

“New, but fun,” he said. “Good group of coaches and kids. The decision to start coaching came pretty quick. I was on the ice with them (at the start) and watching the games. You get to know them more on a personal level when you compete against them in practice, so that helped a bit.

“It gave me a view of what they can do.”

Wideman, an intense competitor, portrays a rather cool demeanour on the bench. That’s on purpose, he said.

“You have to find a balance,” he said. “There’s a right time to yell and there’s a right time (to stay quiet). I found when I played, any time the coach got fired up and started seeming panicky, that translated down to the players, too.”

He spoke to the Hunter family and his old London pals as he considered the transition to suit-and-tie.

“I loved playing for Dale,” he said. “I played for him here and in Washington. I have nothing but respect for those guys and everything they accomplished here. It’s pretty impressive.”

Wideman, who has played 815 NHL games, has not retired. But he and the Calgary Flames are facing a $10.2 million lawsuit from linesman Don Henderson, who hasn’t returned to active duty since being injured from a hit by Wideman, one of the more bizarre on-ice incidents in recent hockey history.

Former Olympic boxer Willie de Wit is the judge in the case.

“If someone (in the NHL) called and asked me to play, I would be stupid not to,” he said. “I don’t think that call’s coming.”

QUICK HITS: Nathan Dunkley, the prize in the Cliff Pu deal with Kingston, also missed the game with an upper body injury. The Knights called it precautionary and are hopeful he will be well enough to play Friday . . . London rookie first-rounder Lucas Rowe and ex-Jr. Knight Eric Guest tried to square off early in the second -- but were broken up by the linesmen. They eventually went at it late in the period. Rowe handled himself well, but fell on his shoulder and was forced to leave the game. “We’ll take it day-to-day and see how he feels,” Steadman said. “He did well. He’s a tough kid. Unlucky fall.” . . .When London assistant coach Dylan Hunter welcomed newborn son Declan into the world last Friday night around 8:30 p.m., he joked they immediately watched the rest of the Knights-IceDogs tilt together. “Hey, I have to introduce him to the game,” he quipped . . . . . . London d-man Jacob Golden is taking a political science and history course at Western this semester -- for benevolent reasons. “I didn’t think it was fair that the high school guys had to go to school,” the former Harvard commit said, “and I didn’t.” . . . The Rangers gave the net start to Richardson even though Mario Culina was the CHL’s goalie of the week. The decision worked for Jay McKee.